The Telegraph: Its Technical, Social, Cultural and Economic Impact in the Mid 19th Century
Samuel Morse is credited with inventing the electromagnetic and chemical recording telegraph and a code of dots and dashes that became known as the Morse Code (Mayeux 301). In the middle of the nineteenth century, the telegraph changed American life dramatically. Most of the western United States was uncharted wilderness. Mail service was sporadic and uncertain. Packet ships took four to six weeks to bring news of world events. Electricity had not been incorporated into daily life. The telegraph improved communications noticeably in the decades ahead (Coe 66). Once the U.S. Congress funded its development in 1844, telegraph service grew rapidly and provided instant communication throughout the United States (The Independence Hall Association). After its introduction and before the Civil War, “the railroads, the press, the business and financial sectors, and private citizens” created demands for telegraph services (Du Boff 465). Its demise happened when demands for faster, more efficient coding systems replaced it (Beauchamp 389). Telegraphy developed in many other parts of the world. However, this brief essay examines the impact of the telegraph only in the United States in the middle of the nineteenth century and in later decades.
The telegraph has made an enduring impact on America and its technical, social, cultural and economic systems, starting in the middle of the nineteenth century and continuing into the twentieth century.
Technical Impact
In the middle of the nineteenth century, the telegraph was the principal way for individuals and businesses to communicate. From 1837 to just before World War I, the telegraph dominated communications. Its invention rested on the work of many other scientists and inventors, including Henry, Oersted, Volta, Wheatstone, Ohm, Ampere, Arago, Bain, Sturgeon, Steinheil and Vail (Coe 15-18; Morse 469-470). Morse and his staff struggled to construct a straightforward, workable system but they had to manage battery and wire capabilities, circuit capacity limitations and uniform transmission and reception requirements that were not in place until the end of the nineteenth century (Coe 23, 143, 151). Telegraphy created “a major technological infrastructure . . . a new [communications] industry was born.” Wireless and aerial telegraphy fulfilled other business, military and personal communication needs later in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries (Beauchamp xviii, xix).
Morse’s telegraph system inspired several improvements on its basic operation. These included more powerful and dependable batteries, chemical telegraphy that produced marks on chemically treated paper, printing telegraph machines that showed messages on narrow paper tape and punched sending tapes that accelerated the sending rates of telegraph messages (Coe 17- 20). Morse’s inventions encouraged the development of later communication systems such as the telephone, typewriter, photography and even modern computer technology (U.S. Department of State; Coe 105). Modern communication methods such as data compression and encryption can be traced to “the ingenuity of the telegraph pioneers.” The telegraph became the foundation upon which a global communication system could be established (Beauchamp xviii, xix).
Social and Cultural Impact
Western settlement, personal and economic progress increased sharply as the nineteenth century progressed. The telegraph provided the security and communication connection needed to ensure the safety of settlers and the full development of new territories. Telegrams soon influenced how business and personal communication was to be conducted (Beauchamp xviii).
The telegraph helped improve daily life. Travel on railways and navigation on the sea and in the air became safer and more predictable (Beauchamp xviii). “Time ticks” helped synchronize and standardize time settings across the U.S. (Coe 129-130; Lubrano 118). Telegraph’s instantaneous capabilities changed communications forever. “New words were introduced into the English language” that altered societal relationships. Women moved into telegraphy jobs and later corporate America (Lubrano 121, 125, 127, 137).
Military applications of the telegraph began during the Crimean War (1853-1856) and continued in America’s Civil War (1861-1865). Operators were trained. Telegraph scouts for both North and South operations used mobile equipment, cable and battery wagons, pocket instruments and flexible wire to disrupt enemy transmissions and report troop movements (Beauchamp 110-113). There was extensive telegraph use in the Spanish American War and World Wars I and II (Coe 51-52, 64) as well as several European and African conflicts (Beauchamp 115-119). Military applications of the telegraph helped test new ideas and procedures under often difficult combat conditions. Governments, telegraph companies and the armies explored and developed new uses of telegraphy through the 1950s (Beauchamp xix, 102).
The telegraph also influenced news reporting. Development of the transcontinental railroad, the pony express and steam-powered ships decreased the time needed to transmit news and information. The telegraph increased even more the speed of delivering news starting with the Mexican War when only 130 miles of telegraph line existed. More news could be delivered to readers because time delays and geographical separations had been eliminated. “The telegraph . . . redefined timeliness” and added a competitive edge for newspapers that often promoted their “news by telegraph” columns (Risley 97-100; Du Boff 468). It transformed the methods of news gathering and reporting and changed newspapers from party organs to timely news dissemination publications. Unfortunately, less important, often sensationalized stories received prominent attention in nineteenth century journalism as news organizations began exploiting the telegraph’s capabilities (Risley 97-100, 102). Wire services such as the Associated Press expanded news coverage with extensive telegraphic reporting. Running accounts of sporting events became commonplace. Instant communication was possible to waiting newsrooms from any telegraph office location. The inverted pyramid writing style was started so important story information could be transmitted before telegraph lines were cut. Balloonists used a trailing wire to report enemy activity. Reporting from battlefields became commonplace (Coe 123-125, 58-59, 130-131).
Economic Impact
Economic development and telegraph technology combined to enrich American culture and provide a solid basis for the great Industrial Revolution. A “business revolution” and economic boom had developed by the mid-1840s and 1850s, straining an antiquated business structure and leaving business service needs unfulfilled. There were growing demands “for improved transportation, communication and information gathering” and specialized financial services. The telegraph offered remarkable commercial and business possibilities with its potential to handle vast amounts of information and transactions for large and small merchants, small goods producers, wholesalers and speculators (Du Boff 479, 461-462).
In its early years, telegraphy struggled to find an effective, workable business model. There was eventual consolidation of telegraph services during the first few years of telegraph use and a movement toward monopoly of services. Western Union eventually dominated the industry by 1856 with lucrative, exclusive contracts with railroad companies and major business operations. The telegraph remained viable and was not hampered by the introduction of the telephone that was expensive and offered no transcontinental service until 1915. Typewriters were not in general use until after 1900 (Coe 86, 89).
The completion of the transcontinental railroad with full rail service throughout the United States spurred the continued growth of telegraph service. It was soon determined railroad and telegraphic operations were inextricably linked and telegraphic train dispatching and routine railroad operations communications began. Eventually, telephone, teletype and computerized dispatching systems replaced the telegraph (Coe 43, 134-135). Both railroads and the telegraph eventually moved from an era of competition to one of consolidation (Du Boff 463).
Businesses made extensive use of the telegraph and provided substantial financial support for new telegraph services, especially in western states and territories (Du Boff 475). Businesses were ready for the expansion that would soon develop in the nineteenth century and the telegraph played a major part in activating those changes in size, function and structure (Du Boff 459). Larger firms had their own telegraph operators and direct connections to the nearest telegraph office. Smaller firms used messengers for pickup and delivery services. Government weather forecasters found telegraph messages helped update information and formulate forecasts (Coe 87, 88, 129).
As the telephone satisfied the need for “instant personal communication,” other telegraph services were introduced to keep the industry viable; these included telegrams, day and night letters, press dispatches, singing telegrams, candygrams, flowers by wire and telegraphic money orders. Western Union made significant strides to adapt “private wire systems for [emerging] data processing” needs. Innovative services and bureaucratic business management systems helped sustain the telegraph industry into the twentieth century (Lubrano 89, 93).
Conclusion
Samuel Morse was not a scientist or mechanic and not an especially effective businessman, but he credited God and to some extent his artistic background as he worked to fulfill a communications need in the middle of the nineteenth century. The written record shows he was reasonably generous with others but fought to maintain his rights (Morse 20, 472). His telegraph system became successful while other, more qualified, scientists stumbled through impractical schemes. Morse worked with others who were qualified and pursued his dream to produce an enduring and influential communications system (Coe 36).
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